Connecting laptop to TV and recording onto VHS tape

[technicality1]

This may be a commonly asked question, but I am wondering whether it is possible to record onto VHS (or DVD too) whatever is displaying on a laptop screen that is connected to the TV?. I am wanting to transfer/record home videos (in HD quality at both 1080p and 720), which are stored on my laptop, by connecting it to the TV and then connecting a video recorder to record whatever's on screen. I have tried through HDMI from laptop to TV, then using a SCART-to-composite cable from the VHS recorder to the inputs on the TV. I have also tried using a VGA cable, but the 15-pin cable doesn't seem to fit the socket correctly on my laptop despite it being a 15-pin connection; if you push it in it will just come out.

I am able to get the image and sound displayed onto the TV, but I cannot find any way of being able to record what's displayed; if I try and record, all I get is a blank recording.

[redwudz]

Why not just convert them to DVD on the laptop? Or transfer the files to a different computer and convert?

If they are good quality, they won't be after doing a DVD or VHS recording from the video card output on the laptop.

What format are the files presently in?

[technicality1]

Thanks for the advice.

They are mostly in HD (1080p and 720p) resolution. Yes I know transferring them to a VHS tape is defeating the object and seems pointless and will no longer be HD, but I am presently trying to safeguard the files and record them to a recordable medium which will, at least, be safe from getting damaged and scratched in the near future. Far too many problems with DVD pictures exploding into pixels (in quite alot of cases, for no apparent reason despite them being brand new and never been scratched, etc). You can watch one DVD and it'll be fine, then the next the picture breaks up, even though they've been kept safe. And besides, I don't want them to stay on my laptop HD and portable HD forever.

I have tried using the non-linear method via editing software, but that, despite me using a brand new Toshiba laptop, it's proving quite a frustrating and time-consuming challenge, often resulting in crashes due to far too large file sizes being imported. I tried using Windows Movie Maker (the version that allows you to import HD files), but for some reason it crashed after importing several videos.

My laptop specs are:
Toshiba Satellite
8 GB RAM
Windows 8
64 bit
1 TB HD
AMD A8 Quad Core Processor.

[DB83]

You can not do what you want since most tvs do not have any video output.

The input would have to go in to the recording device direct and you would have to perform a digital to analogue conversion first. Not worth the hassle.

Forget the Windows 'toys'. Just put your files in to avstodvd and create the dvd with a few mouse-clicks.

[usually_quiet]

This may be a commonly asked question, but I am wondering whether it is possible to record onto VHS (or DVD too) whatever is displaying on a laptop screen that is connected to the TV?. I am wanting to transfer/record home videos (in HD quality at both 1080p and 720), which are stored on my laptop, by connecting it to the TV and then connecting a video recorder to record whatever's on screen. I have tried through HDMI from laptop to TV, then using a SCART-to-composite cable from the VHS recorder to the inputs on the TV. I have also tried using a VGA cable, but the 15-pin cable doesn't seem to fit the socket correctly on my laptop despite it being a 15-pin connection; if you push it in it will just come out.

I am able to get the image and sound displayed onto the TV, but I cannot find any way of being able to record what's displayed; if I try and record, all I get is a blank recording.

If you are concerned about the future, VHS is not a good solution for archiving either. Tapes can degrade if they are poor quality or stored improperly. Also VHS is an obsolete technology and VHS players will become more and more difficult to find in working condition in years to come. Analog connections are also slowly being eliminated from TVs.

Most here archive their HD video files on multiple external hard drives or a combination of hard drives and optical media. I have a Blu-Ray burner and burn HD video files as data to BD-R. Regular Verbatim BD-R and Panasonic BD-R media are highly regarded. Avoid Verbatim LTH (Low to High) media. There are external BD burners available for laptops.

[technicality1]

To be honest I think DVD's are just as bad when it comes to unreliability. I have a massive collection of VHS tape going back to the late 80s and early 90s, and they play quite good still now, albeit a few exhibit fuzziness, jumping/tracking issues, etc (which is just because of repeated re-recordings), but at least they still play. At least if a tape snaps there's some way of repairing them, with DVD however, once a disc gets scratched (or in some situations not even that) the dsic won't play at all and it's likely it won't play ever again. There goes youre family home videos lost.

I tried AVS-DVD, seems like a good piece of converting software. However, the version I was using wouldn't allow me to import more than 64 files. As far as I know it isn't a trial version. I also noticed that some of my files wouldn't import the audio; it kept saying "do you want to change language from Eng to JP?" or something like that. When I select NO, the audio from several files (when I played back the final DVD structure) was missing.

[DB83]

^^ Odd behaviour.

I would have thought that the program would allow for 99 files (that is the maximum for a dvd)

You sure you used avstodvd ? There is a similar name program avitodvd which is not so good.

As for disk scratching, often comes down to media quality and how you handle/store them.

[technicality1]

It may be due to low disc space. I have only around 8GB of space on my harddrive. The software gets to around 3424MB and won't go any further. It is definately AVStoDVD that I am using. Maybe there's something else I need to do or to configure something in the settings. It says:-

"Warning! Maximum number of Titles reached (64). You cannot add more Titles."

[DB83]

I suppose that is a limitation, not of the dvd spec, but one of the programs that avstodvd uses. *

But then, not that many people would wish to put that number of titles on to one disk. You are talking of, on average, just a few minutes per title.

Disk space could be an issue. The program requires temporary space and enough to create the disk folders or iso ready for burning. 8 gig really is not enough.

* Update: Just tested the program with 98 tiny files. No problems importing them whatsoever. So it must be a free space issue.

[Bjs]

Limited space on drive being taken up by temp files will cause all sorts of errors from various programs ... add a second hard drive for the purpose of authoring dvd's (holds source files / temp / final output)

Old analog tv's ... a good percentage included a/v out ... which is why I still have them for color grading pre final output ... I have seen a few lcd's include a/v out ... must update my search again

99 "main" titles ... yes ... but we have tools that allow more as a title can be more than 1 file thanks to vobblanker and pgcedit ... I know its easy for me, lol

[technicality1]

I suppose that is a limitation, not of the dvd spec, but one of the programs that avstodvd uses. *

But then, not that many people would wish to put that number of titles on to one disk. You are talking of, on average, just a few minutes per title.

Disk space could be an issue. The program requires temporary space and enough to create the disk folders or iso ready for burning. 8 gig really is not enough.

* Update: Just tested the program with 98 tiny files. No problems importing them whatsoever. So it must be a free space issue.

Hi,

I have since tried AVS-DVD on my new Toshiba laptop with around 900gb HD space, yet it still won't allow me to add more than 64 titles. The only thing I can think that may be the cause is that the files that I am importing are too large to be imported; they are quite large HD (.m2ts) files. Or it could be that I have downloaded a trial version that will only allow a limited number to be added. I did notice though that in the output setup settings in the options tab, the iso/udf image tab is greyed out. I don't know if that's normal.

[usually_quiet]

I suppose that is a limitation, not of the dvd spec, but one of the programs that avstodvd uses. *

But then, not that many people would wish to put that number of titles on to one disk. You are talking of, on average, just a few minutes per title.

Disk space could be an issue. The program requires temporary space and enough to create the disk folders or iso ready for burning. 8 gig really is not enough.

* Update: Just tested the program with 98 tiny files. No problems importing them whatsoever. So it must be a free space issue.

Hi,

I have since tried AVS-DVD on my new Toshiba laptop with around 900gb HD space, yet it still won't allow me to add more than 64 titles. The only thing I can think that may be the cause is that the files that I am importing are too large to be imported; they are quite large HD (.m2ts) files. Or it could be that I have downloaded a trial version that will only allow a limited number to be added. I did notice though that in the output setup settings in the options tab, the iso/udf image tab is greyed out. I don't know if that's normal.

There is no trial version for AVStoDVD. It is free software, although the author appreciates donations.

The combined video and audio bitrate multiplied by the run time must be less than the DVD's capacity for everything to fit on the DVD. When converting video for DVD, AVStoDVD will not allow the bitrate to drop below a certain point to insure its DVD conversions remain watchable. Maybe you are only allowed to add 64 titles because adding more would result in too many minutes of video on the disk even at the minimum bitrate AVS to DVD allows. There is an "Output Size" indicator at the bottom of the AVStoDVD window. How many MB does it say that you have used?

There may be an easier way to save your video files, if the MTS file are small enough and you own a Blu-Ray player. Video files of 4.2 GB or less will fit on a DVD and can be burned as data, avoiding the need to do a DVD conversion. Most Blu-Ray players made in the last few years can play such data files on DVD, and a PC can as well. You will use more disks, but it is easier than authoring DVDs and 100 good DVDs won't cost you an arm and a leg.

[technicality1]

Thanks for the help.

The output size indicator was set to a 4450MB size, and the files I had imported had reached about halfway on the output marker; I think it came to around 2GB. It could be a problem with the files, some of them maybe of different bitrates. The files came directly off my HD camcorder and they haven't been changed in any way. The files were imported from an external harddrive.

[JVRaines]

You might also consider archiving to data tape. Magnetic tape is a surprisingly robust medium under proper storage conditions. I'm working with an archive now where we are putting converted videos on LTO tape cartridges.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for the help.

The output size indicator was set to a 4450MB size, and the files I had imported had reached about halfway on the output marker; I think it came to around 2GB. It could be a problem with the files, some of them maybe of different bitrates. The files came directly off my HD camcorder and they haven't been changed in any way. The files were imported from an external harddrive.

The rightmost box shows the total space available for storing video and audio in MB. The box to the left of it shows how much space is being used. For single layer DVDs, the total space available for storing video and audio is always 4450 MB. The bar shows the relationship between the two graphically. There appears to be plenty of space left on the DVD.

AVStoDVD will convert all the input files so the video and audio falls within the DVD spec. The bit rate for the originals HD mts files doesn't really matter all that much.

It is looking more and more like the problem is that you only have 8GB of free space left on the HDD. AVStoDVD may detect that it is not enough for creating more than 64 temporary files plus all the files and folders for the finished DVD. Time to think about deleting or moving some files to alternative storage to make more room.

[usually_quiet]

You might also consider archiving to data tape. Magnetic tape is a surprisingly robust medium under proper storage conditions. I'm working with an archive now where we are putting converted videos on LTO tape cartridges.

You neglected to mention that the cost of the drives and the tapes used for LTO tape storage puts this solution out of reach for most consumers.

[technicality1]

Thanks for the help.

The output size indicator was set to a 4450MB size, and the files I had imported had reached about halfway on the output marker; I think it came to around 2GB. It could be a problem with the files, some of them maybe of different bitrates. The files came directly off my HD camcorder and they haven't been changed in any way. The files were imported from an external harddrive.

The rightmost box shows the total space available for storing video and audio in MB. The box to the left of it shows how much space is being used. For single layer DVDs, the total space available for storing video and audio is always 4450 MB. The bar shows the relationship between the two graphically. There appears to be plenty of space left on the DVD.

AVStoDVD will convert all the input files so the video and audio falls within the DVD spec. The bit rate for the originals HD mts files doesn't really matter all that much.

It is looking more and more like the problem is that you only have 8GB of free space left on the HDD. AVStoDVD may detect that it is not enough for creating more than 64 temporary files plus all the files and folders for the finished DVD. Time to think about deleting or moving some files to alternative storage to make more room.

I should've really have been abit more clear, but the 8GB that was left was for my other, older laptop - an Acer Aspire. However, I also downloaded and installed AVS-DVD on my new laptop (which is a Toshiba Satellite with a 1TB HD with around 989GB HD space available). I have only used the laptop a few times so far, only installed one or two programmes and I've not really used it for much else apart from browsing a few sites. So RAM and disc space can't be a problem. However, AVS will only allow me to add 64 titles.

[JVRaines]

You might also consider archiving to data tape. Magnetic tape is a surprisingly robust medium under proper storage conditions. I'm working with an archive now where we are putting converted videos on LTO tape cartridges.

You neglected to mention that the cost of the drives and the tapes used for LTO tape storage puts this solution out of reach for most consumers.

LTO-6 tapes aren't bad at about $14 per terabyte uncompressed. But yes, the drives are quite expensive. DDS and DLT are still around for substantially less money. No tape solution is as cheap as optical disks or hard disk drives, but then again, tape lasts far longer.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for the help.

The output size indicator was set to a 4450MB size, and the files I had imported had reached about halfway on the output marker; I think it came to around 2GB. It could be a problem with the files, some of them maybe of different bitrates. The files came directly off my HD camcorder and they haven't been changed in any way. The files were imported from an external harddrive.

The rightmost box shows the total space available for storing video and audio in MB. The box to the left of it shows how much space is being used. For single layer DVDs, the total space available for storing video and audio is always 4450 MB. The bar shows the relationship between the two graphically. There appears to be plenty of space left on the DVD.

AVStoDVD will convert all the input files so the video and audio falls within the DVD spec. The bit rate for the originals HD mts files doesn't really matter all that much.

It is looking more and more like the problem is that you only have 8GB of free space left on the HDD. AVStoDVD may detect that it is not enough for creating more than 64 temporary files plus all the files and folders for the finished DVD. Time to think about deleting or moving some files to alternative storage to make more room.

I should've really have been abit more clear, but the 8GB that was left was for my other, older laptop - an Acer Aspire. However, I also downloaded and installed AVS-DVD on my new laptop (which is a Toshiba Satellite with a 1TB HD with around 989GB HD space available). I have only used the laptop a few times so far, only installed one or two programmes and I've not really used it for much else apart from browsing a few sites. So RAM and disc space can't be a problem. However, AVS will only allow me to add 64 titles.

To be honest, I have never authored a DVD with more than 10 titles. Since I could not find a maximum title limit listed in AVStoDVD's Help file, I'm going to suggest that you post about this problem in the AVStoDVD support thread. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/277852-AVStoDVD-Support-Thread

_MrC_, AVStoDVD's developer, monitors that thread and is very good about replying to questions posted there.

[theewizard]

I think 64 titles limit is because of Muxman the part of avs2dvd that mixes the audio and video together for each title of the DVD
Avs2dvd has its own thread for questions and tips updated by the creator Mr_C
But what is wrong with having only 64 titles and going to another disc for more

[technicality1]

I understand there could be a limit due to file size, but could someone please tell me why is it that the "ISO UDF Image" option is grayed out in the "Output Set" tab under Options?. In the beginners guide for AVS-DVD, it says: "4. Under Output can you select to burn, output to a dvd folder(video_Ts), make iso or make a mpeg2 file. I choose the ISO UDF Image. I can then test the DVD before I burn it.". The version I have downloaded dosen't allow me to select that option. The "Burn DVD" option is also grayed out. This appears the same on both laptops I have with AVS installed.

[usually_quiet]

I understand there could be a limit due to file size, but could someone please tell me why is it that the "ISO UDF Image" option is grayed out in the "Output Set" tab under Options?. In the beginners guide for AVS-DVD, it says: "4. Under Output can you select to burn, output to a dvd folder(video_Ts), make iso or make a mpeg2 file. I choose the ISO UDF Image. I can then test the DVD before I burn it.". The version I have downloaded dosen't allow me to select that option. The "Burn DVD" option is also grayed out. This appears the same on both laptops I have with AVS installed.

AVStoDVD uses another program, ImgBurn, to burn DVDs and create disc images (ISOs). You need to install ImgBurn to create an ISO image.

If you have a software DVD player that can play ISO images, you can test with an ISO image. Otherwise you should use the option output to a DVD folder (VIDEO_TS) to test your DVD.

[technicality1]

Thanks for that. That seems to be what the problem was.

[_MrC_]

Guys, the issue of max 64 titles is within a BatchMux 1.3 (wrapper to Muxman) limitation. I apologize if it is not documented in the Help section, but it is reported in the History.txt file, release 2.8.0 notes.

Luckily. the more recent release of BatchMux does support up to 99 titlesets. I just have to find the time to update it into AVStoDVD.



Bye